Ganymede
Science

Facts about Ganymede

We found 15 facts about Ganymede

The largest moon in the solar system

Ganymede is a huge moon by solar system standards. It is larger than Pluto and Mercury. Apparently, it was observed with the naked eye in ancient times, but it was officially discovered to the Western world at the beginning of the 17th century. It is a very interesting geological object that has been studied many times. It still hides many secrets, which is why ESA plans to devote one of its missions to it.

Ganymede
1
Ganymede is the largest moon of Jupiter and the largest moon in the solar system.
2
It was discovered on January 11, 1610, by Galileo Galilei or a few days earlier by Simon Marius.

In his work from 1614, Marius claimed that he made his discovery a few days before Galileo, and Galileo accused him of lying and plagiarism.

3
Probably in 365 BC, the Chinese astronomer Gan De managed to observe Ganymede with the naked eye.
4
The surface of Ganymede is geologically very diverse.

On its surface, there are both geologically young areas and much older, darker, and covered with many craters.

5
Ganymede's tectonic activity may have occurred in the past, but it does not occur at present.
6
Ganymede orbits Jupiter at a distance of 1.070.400 kilometers. The complete orbit takes 7 days and 3 hours.
7
The density of the moon is relatively low and amounts to 1.9 g/cm³.
8
The surface temperature of the moon is about 110 K.
9
Ganymede's core is composed of iron, which may be partially liquid and is surrounded by a thick mantle made of silicates.
10
The moon's mantle is surrounded by layers of ice and salty liquid water.

These layers alternate. The surface of the moon consists of hard ice several kilometers thick.

11
Ganymede has a very thin atmosphere that is almost 100% of oxygen.
12
The Moon is the only one in the Solar System that has a dipole magnetic field capable of creating a magnetosphere.
13
Ganymede has a larger diameter than Mercury and is 5268 km.
14
Ganymede was examined closely by the spacecraft Pioneer 10 and 11, Voyager 1 and 2, New Horizons, and Galileo.
15
In the future, the European Space Agency plans to explore the moon during the Jupiter Icy Moon Explorer (JUICE) mission.

It was launched on 14 April 2023, and is expected to reach Ganymede in December 2034.

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